http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/issue/feedInter-American Journal of Education for Democracy2013-04-26T10:45:22-04:00Romina Kasmaneducation@oas.orgOpen Journal Systems<p>The Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy is a refereed academic publication that aims to foster intellectual discussion and exchange about efforts to promote education for democratic citizenship across the Americas. The IJED is a plural forum that diffuses knowledge on a wide array of topics, disciplines, theoretical perspectives, and methodologies in the field of citizenship education for democracy.</p>http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/158Education for Intercultural Citizenship: The Maya Teachers of Chiapas in the Construction of Alternative Citizenships from below2009-11-11T12:32:22-05:00María Bertely Busquetsbertely@ciesas.edu.mx<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This article is the result of a co-participative investigation into legal pluralism and education for intercultural citizenship carried out with teachers of ethnic Maya origin in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. It offers general hypotheses leading to a critical analysis of the relation between education, citizenship and interculturalism, and suggests the need to assume a clear ethical, political and philosophical position with regard to the demands of indigenous peoples and the negative effects of territorial uprootedness. From the point of view of a citizenship model constructed <em>from beneath</em>, the report proposes that both indigenous and non-indigenous people should participate in inter-learning spaces where lived, face-to-face intercultural experience becomes indispensable. The results of the research show the limits of <em>superficial</em> and <em>contemplative</em> anthropological perspectives inspired by personal and academic concerns, in contrast with the potential citizen who is implicated in <em>deep</em> and <em>decolonizing</em> intercultural experiences which, without ignoring those concerns, are articulated with the demands of indigenous peoples and other silenced social groups.</span><!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1011Introductory Essay2011-03-29T16:39:56-04:00Bradley A.U. Levinsonbrlevins@indiana.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Recent events across the Americas suggest that the work of building a democratic political culture through educational practices and institutions is more important than ever. The June, 2009 coup in Honduras, the September, 2010 coup in Ecuador, the recent electoral travesty in Haiti, and the evidence of state-level Machiavellian power plays revealed through the Wikileaks scandal—all of these events call into question the strength and maturity of civil society to sustain democracy or to contest non-democratic actions by state actors or franchised players in the political system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here at the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy</em>, we hope that our scholarly contributions to discourse and debate—our <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">granito de arena</em>—can continue to tip the scales in favor of a deep and long-lasting democracy across the region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/143Democratization of Law: A Look at the Popular Legal Promoters Program2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Fernanda Castro Fernandesfernandacastrofernandes@gmail.comFlávia Schillingoak1@uol.com.br<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This article discusses how a legal training course, called "Popular Legal Promoters," is able to foster the democratization of law. This task will be undertaken using as a starting point the participating women’s opportunity to learn about their rights and the instruments for making them effective. This is the starting point, because there is an understanding that the problems that are common to women, and their feeling of belonging, are fundamental to their possibility of exercising their rights. The article analyzes a fieldwork experience during the 11th training course of Popular Legal Promoters in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2005, providing a profile of the participating students, their expectations and experiences.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/162Who Cares?: Relationships, Recognition, and Rights in the Democratic Education of Three Cambodian Sisters in the United States2009-11-11T12:54:58-05:00Ellen Skilton-Sylvestersylveste@arcadia.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">This article argues that interpersonal relationships of care and cultural recognition as evidence of care are central to democratic citizenship education, particularly for students from marginalized groups. Utilizing two sets of data: 1) life history interviews of three adult Cambodian sisters and 2) three years of ethnographic data from their home and school contexts more than a decade before, the article documents their education, both in and out of school, and how that education has produced very particular kinds of citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than seeing these forms of care as peripheral to the goals of democratic citizenship education, this article argues that they are central to ensuring the social and cultural rights of newcomers in the United States.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1015Intercultural Dialogue: Discourse and Realities of Indigenous and Mestizos in Ecuador and Guatemala2011-03-29T16:39:56-04:00Magdalena Herdoíza-Estévezmherdoiz@ius.eduSonia Lenksonia.lenk@wku.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="ecmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">This study adds to an in-depth understanding of the approaches taken by indigenous peoples in intercultural struggles vis-à-vis governments, language-related policies and mainstream societies in Latin America, specifically in Guatemala and Ecuador. The paper traces the ways in which indigenous peoples have subverted hegemony, contesting and redefining the imagery of Latin American societies, and creating new paradigms for their role in society. It also addresses the assimilation strategies used by the dominant sectors, globally and nationally, aimed at disempowering interculturality as a means of questioning the exclusionary and discriminatory status quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <p class="ecmsonormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%; background: white;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">From a comparative perspective, Ecuador and Guatemala exemplify two different approaches to interculturality, with different emphases and outcomes. In an effort to add current voices from the field to this discussion, the study brings up-to-date contributions from scholars and social agents involved in the intercultural discussion and struggles in both countries. These contributions add an in-depth reflection about the processes emerging today in defense of individual and collective rights to difference. This analysis contributes to a broader dialogue that aims to explore models of coexistence between socially and culturally diverse peoples, while addressing the intrinsic tension present in cross-cultural relationships. </span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/134Editorial Introduction2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Bradley A.U. Levinsonbrlevins@indiana.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As I write these words, the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago has just wrapped up, and a renewed sense of respectful hemispheric cooperation is being widely proclaimed. The Inter - American Democratic Charter, which stimulates and reaffirms all OAS member states’ commitment to democracy as way of life, has once again been invoked as a touchstone for such cooperation. At the Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy, we are heartened by these trends, and we also look forward to similar collaboration at the upcoming sixth OAS Meeting of Ministers of Education, already in planning for August 12th, in Quito, Ecuador. We see our work as contributing to educational development in the Americas, and we envision this work unfolding in a spirit of mutuality and public-mindedness. The Journal serves as a space for the exchange of research experiences and ideas, a vital forum for reflection amidst the otherwise urgent business of constructing and strengthening democratic political cultures in our region.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/142Development of Competencies through Service Learning at the University2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Pilar Folgueiras Bertomeupfolgueiras@ub.eduMarcela Martínez VivotMVivot@fvet.uba.ar<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The following article describes an evaluative case study of a service learning initiative implemented in Los Piletones, an impoverished neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Specifically, the study focuses on identifying and analyzing nine general competencies (social responsibility and civic engagement, capacity to apply knowledge for practice, ability to communicate with a non-expert public, etc.) that the program manages to develop in participating students from an undergraduate Veterinary program.</span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p> </p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/135Theorizing Global Citizenship: Discourses, Challenges, and Implications for Education2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Nelly P. Stromquiststromqui@umd.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The increasing interconnection between countries is leading to the recognition of both shared problems and shared solutions for which citizens’ rights, obligations, and responsibilities transcend the traditional nation-state. This article seeks to provide an understanding of the concept of global citizenship and to locate the main contemporary proponents of this concept. It identifies four different themes underlying global citizenship, which are then labeled as world culture, new-era realism, corporate citizenship, and planetary vessel. After discussing the assumptions and arguments in favor of global citizenship made by the proponents within each of the four themes, the article examines several ideological and material obstacles to the attainment of a global citizenship. Global citizenship is found to require significant adjustment of individual, corporate, national, and regional interests. The implications of this concept for the K-12 curriculum, especially civic education, are probed.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/117Classrooms in Peace: Pedagogical Strategies2009-10-15T02:56:43-04:00Enrique Chauxechaux@uniandes.edu.co<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;">The concept of citizenship competencies has emerged recently as a valuable alternative in education for peace and democracy. The formative evaluation of the Colombian Classrooms in Peace program has enabled us to analyze diverse pedagogical strategies for developing the following eight fundamental citizenship competencies for constructive conflict management and aggression prevention: anger management, empathy, perspective-taking, creative generation of options, consideration of consequences, active listening, assertiveness, values clarification.<br /><br />In the previous issue of IJED we published the preliminary results of the Classrooms in Peace program. This article complements the former by highlighting the pedagogical strategies that have enabled the development of these citizenship competencies in an environment that is motivating and meaningful for students.</span>Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/131Educational Reform and Democratic Practices in Guatemala: Lessons Learned from the Communities in Exile2009-10-15T02:56:43-04:00Michael O'Sullivanmosullivan@brocku.ca<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The educational reform provided for in the 1996 Peace Accords, which aimed to infuse the history, language, and culture of the Maya people into Guatemala’s national curriculum, has not yet been implemented. The Pan Mayanist educational reform proponents, operating from a position of political weakness, have been unable to convince successive governments to implement these measures. Consequently, educational changes that have occurred, while improving some indicators of student achievement, do not address the issue of the cultural components that constitute the essential ingredients of an educational reform from a Maya perspective. Faced with this situation, local Maya communities, frequently with the support of Maya organizations of civil society, are creating instances of local power where education from a Maya perspective is being implemented in local schools, with or without Ministry collaboration.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/613Editorial Introduction: The Role of Assessment in Educating Democratic Citizens2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00Bradley A.U. Levinsonbrlevins@indiana.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">As the articles for this, the fifth issue of our journal, began to take final form, we realized that we had inadvertently compiled a “thematic section” on issues of evaluation and assessment. The fact that such a grouping of articles came together speaks to the salience of this matter for the field of practice and scholarship known as democratic citizenship education (DCE). Now more than ever, we have vital debates in the field about how best to assess programs and practices for educating democratic citizens. After all, our field presents some of the most notoriously difficult challenges of assessment, especially as we move from a legacy of instruction in bodies of standardized knowledge toward the formation of dispositions, competencies, and values. Assessment of such formation must be contextually sensitive and methodologically complex. It is one thing to measure mathematical knowledge or competence in a 6th grade student. But how do we measure or assess the achievement of citizenship competencies? More broadly still, what do our assessment practices themselves say about the relationship between democracy, knowledge, and education policymaking?</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/615Citizens Not Research Subjects: Toward a More Democratic Civic Education Inquiry Methodology2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00Terrence C. Masontmason@indiana.eduGinette Delandsheregdelands@indiana.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">Research methodologies and conceptions of curriculum are not all equivalent in their moral, ethical, or socio-political consideration of individuals and communities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the consistency of research methodology used in civic education with the principles that we believe underlie civic engagement, participation and action, and, more specifically, those principles that relate to inclusion, dialogue, and deliberation (House & Howe, 1999).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do so, we analyze and offer alternatives to some recent research efforts in terms of their relationship to democratic educational practices and the extent to which research in civic education takes into account the local context and concerns of participants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/157Reflections on the Call for the Special Issue on Education, Citizenship and Interculturalism2010-04-15T10:03:12-04:00M. Fernanda Astizastizm@canisius.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana;">This critical essay challenges two assumptions that permeate the call for papers for this special issue of the Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, it questions the claim that American societies are “[becoming] progressively more diverse,” implying that in the past they were less diverse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, it disputes not only the theoretical merit of the concept of “authentic democracy,” but also the assumption that conflictive views and group relations are not compatible with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last, the essay engages in a discussion of how these assumptions, if not pointed out, hinder the purpose set for this special issue and democratic education alike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Academics and policy makers must exercise caution when formulating and setting up frameworks for debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/159Critical Citizenship Education for Multicultural Societies2009-11-11T12:32:22-05:00Joan G. DeJaegheredeja0003@umn.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ">Multicultural societies face many challenges with regard to how citizenship is defined and enacted for the development and sustainability of democracy in our changing times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these challenges include intercultural conflict and racial/ethnic tensions that result in exclusion and discrimination of some members of society, and inequality in social, economic and political opportunities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This paper proposes a model of critical citizenship education as pedagogical approaches to be implemented in schools to address these challenges present in our multicultural societies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this paper, I define critical citizenship education and contrast it with minimal and maximal forms of citizenship education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I describe four pedagogical approaches and provide examples of them in classrooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article concludes with considerations for implementing critical citizenship education in the classroom. </span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/136Human Rights Education in Costa Rica: More Expectation than Implementation.2009-11-04T13:01:54-05:00David ShimanDavid.Shiman@uvm.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This research explores human rights curriculum and curriculum policy in Costa Rica and seeks to understand why a nation that views itself as a champion of human rights, and identifies human rights as a core value to be promoted in schools, has failed to develop a national plan for human rights education or provide the curricular and human resources needed for teaching human rights. The explanations are found in the Costa Rican view of their nation as a human rights culture as well as structural and resource conditions that impede efforts to advance human rights through education. However, one state university has made strides in incorporating human rights into its teacher preparation programs. Conducted in Costa Rica in 2007, this research combines interviews with government officials, educators, and researchers, and analyzes Ministry of Public Education policy statements and data gathered by the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1012Student Leadership Opportunities for Making ‘Peace’ in Canada’s Urban Schools: Contradictions in Practice2011-03-29T16:39:56-04:00Kathy Bickmorek.bickmore@utoronto.caAngela MacDonaldmacdonald.an@gmail.com<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 15px;">Qualitative research on the range of anti-violence and peacebuilding-related programming in three large, diverse school districts illuminated contrasting approaches to student participation: teachers and administrators empowered differing sub-sets of students as ‘leaders' in differing ways, to help reduce violence and build peer conflict management capacity. The contrasting student roles that were implemented -monitors (enforcing rules), social skills leaders (addressing bullying), peer mediators (facilitating dispute resolution), student voice representatives (engaging in democratic consultation), and equity advocates (resisting bias and marginalization)- imply differing understandings of ‘peace' and of citizenship. This paper probes the implications of these activities for diverse students' unequal opportunities to develop citizen agency and to build sustainable democratic peace. </span><!--StartFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/155Plural Nationality and Citizenship in Bolivia: Review of Long Journey and the Current Situation2009-11-11T12:45:03-05:00Luis Enrique Lópezlelopez.pace@pcon.org.gt<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana;">This text is the fourth installment of a series of attempts to account for the process of sociopolitical redefinition that Bolivia is undergoing as a result of the participation of indigenous people in national politics and the virtual popular insurrection against traditional politics that has motivated the re-composition of its political system. The Bolivian case bears particular interest in the discussion on citizenship in Latin America since – like no other country in the region until now – the arrival to power of leaders and intellectuals that claim their differentiated ethnicity and/or their adhesion to the indigenous cause questions the liberal concept of citizenship, revises and deepens the sense of equality in a country that is profoundly asymmetrical, and interrogates the very meaning of country and the State.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/618The Foundation for Democracy: Promoting Social, Emotional, Ethical, Cognitive Skills and Dispositions in K-12 Schools2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00Jonathan Cohenjonathancohen@csee.netTerry Pickeralt.pickeral@cascadeeducationalconsultants.comPeter LevinePeter.Levine@Tufts.edu.<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">The Organization of American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Charter (2001) declares that “The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it” (preface).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the Charter also recognizes, one important means to promote and defend democracy is to teach it in schools. We will examine how schools can promote democratic knowledge, skills and dispositions, using examples from the United States that can be considered, adopted and/or adapted in nations throughout the Americas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Civics education in the United States has tended to focus on civic knowledge (how government works, voting policies, etc.) rather than skills and dispositions. In this paper, we briefly review the evolution of how educational and political leaders have considered the relationship between social, emotional, ethical, civic and intellectual skills, knowledge and dispositions and democracy. We suggest a model of essential social, emotional, ethical and cognitive skills and dispositions that provide the foundation for participation in a democracy. We then outline two essential goals that K-12 schools need to consider to effectively promote these capacities: How and what students and adults learn? And, how school communities work together to create safe, caring, and responsive and participatory environments. We suggest that measuring and working to improve school climate is the single most powerful K-12 educational strategy that supports schools’ intentionally creating democratically informed communities which foster the skills, knowledge and dispositions that support students’ healthy development and capacity to learn and become engaged and effective citizens.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/116The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and education for democracy2009-10-15T02:56:43-04:00Daniel Schugurenskydschugurensky@oise.utoronto.caBradley A.U. Levinsonbrlevins@indiana.eduRoberto Gonzálezrgonzale@uc.cl<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;"> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We are very happy to present this second issue of the Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy. Producing a peer-reviewed journal has proved a more complicated and demanding task than we originally anticipated, especially considering that most of the work is done on a volunteer basis, that the editorial committee is located in different parts of the continent, and that the process of evaluating the many papers submitted in three different languages creates additional logistical challenges. Nonetheless, and despite the natural growing pains, the Journal is overcoming these and other challenges, and we are already busy preparing the third issue.</p> <!--EndFragment--> </span></span>Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/617A Human Rights Education Project Indicator for NGOs and International Organizations2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00David Lempertsuperlemp@yahoo.com<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">The article offers an easy-to-use indicator for measuring whether human rights education projects of NGOs and international organizations actually meet the criteria for “human rights” that have been established by various international treaties and that are recognized by experts in the field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sample tests of this indicator on more than a dozen international projects and organizations reveal that many of the major actors in the field of human rights are actually failing to promote the standards in their education projects, and point to the specific areas where they need to improve in order to fulfill international criteria.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/133Interculturality as a Pivotal Aspect of Education for Democracy: A Dialogue with Sylvia Schmelkes2009-10-15T02:56:43-04:00Bradley A.U. Levinsonbrlevins@indiana.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In this dialogue, the editor of the Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy, Bradley Levinson, interviews the distinguished educator and educational researcher Sylvia Schmelkes, member of the Editorial Board of this Journal, who is currently the Chair of the Department of Education and Director of the Institute for Educational Research of the Ibero-American University of Mexico. Sylvia Schmelkes has a long and prominent trajectory as an educational researcher, specializing in values education, popular and non-formal education, and aspects of quality in basic education. Among her more significant books and articles are Quality in Primary Education in Mexico; Toward Better Quality in our Schools; and Values Education in Basic Education. For many years Ms. Schmelkes was a researcher for the Center of Educational Studies, and later on, the Department of Educational Research (CINVESTAV-IPN), in Mexico. After 2001 she joined the Secretariat of Public Education as Director of the Office of Intercultural and Bilingual Education, a position she held until 2007.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1014Education for Democratic Life Through Social Participation: Points of Encounter between Schools and Families2011-06-06T13:09:34-04:00Úrsula Zuritauzurita@flacso.edu.mxThis document examines various elements regarding education for democratic life (EDL) in the basic level education that has been developing in Mexico since the 1990s. It emphasizes social participation (SP), conceived as a key resource not only for promoting active civic life in the school or amongst students, but also for fostering tighter relations between schools and families and their participants. While some advances in EDL are acknowledged, a comprehensive policy that takes into account the development and consolidation of SP, based on strengthening both institutions, is still absent.Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/145Interview with Dr. Judith-Torney Purta2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Jorge Baxterjbaxter@oas.org<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Dr. Judith Torney-Purta is a Professor of Human Development at the University of Maryland. Her distinguished scholarly work includes the books, Civic Education across Countries: Twenty-four National Case Studies from the IEA Civic Education Study, which received the CHOICE Award from the American Library Association as an Outstanding Academic Book of the Year, Civic Education in Twenty-Eight Countries: Civic Knowledge and Engagement at Age Fourteen, and Strengthening democracy in the Americas through civic education: An empirical analysis of the views of students and teachers. Dr. Torney-Purta served for over a decade as the International Steering Committee Chair of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’ Civic Education Study. The study surveyed the knowledge of civic topics and the political attitudes and engagement of 140,000 adolescents from 28 countries around the globe, including Chile, Colombia, and the United States.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/161Using Teachers’ Volunteer Experiences in the Dominican Republic to Develop Social Responsibility in Canadian Middle-School Students: An ‘Authors in the Classroom’ Approach2010-02-01T22:25:31-05:00Judith K. Bernhardbernhard@ryerson.caLisa Evansbernhard@ryerson.caYohannys Marmolejobernhard@ryerson.caTeresa Cosentinobernhard@ryerson.ca<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ">This study evaluated the potential utility of teachers’ volunteer service-learning experiences abroad to change the perceptions and actions of North American students toward cultural others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A team of Canadian teachers working with local children in the Dominican Republic used the literacy intervention Authors in the Classroom program to guide these children in authoring identity texts about themselves and their families. These multi-layered texts are discussed with emphasis on the children’s understanding of their social situation. The teachers later shared these texts with a group of Canadian Grade 8 students and had them produce their own texts. The Canadian students showed a range of depth in their understanding of the lives of impoverished children, as well as a range of responses toward action for social justice.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1013The Blending of Place and Voice in Ecomuseums: Educating Communities and Visitors in the New Museum2011-03-29T16:39:56-04:00Lesley Graybeallesley8p@uga.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana;">The concept of the traditional museum as a temple of knowledge has been increasingly challenged with the development of new museum forms. This paper examines the history and applications in the Americas of one such model, the ecomuseum, which </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ">arose in the late 1900s in European industrial towns as a way for local communities to navigate their heritage and changing way of life in a post-industrial era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ecomuseums are grassroots institutions whose goal is to encompass the entirety of the community’s political and economic—as well as historical and cultural—reality to constitute the museum, and thus rarely confine themselves to a single museum building. Ecomuseums have come to fulfill a number of roles as educational institutions, historic preservation centers, and seats of community activism, giving community members a voice in self-representation and bridging the past, present, and future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ecomuseum, in locally negotiating and redefining even the physical parameters of the museum, presents a unique model for democratic heritage preservation and education. While this specific model has been applied to a limited extent outside of Europe, the ecomuseum and other similar manifestations of new museology—which have emerged in Central, North, and South America—have potential for shaping culture democratically within indigenous and ethnic communities and offering valuable awareness of alternative histories to visitors.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/616The Pull of PISA: Uncertainty, Influence, and Ignorance2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00Sharon Murphysmurphy@edu.yorku.ca<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">If participation rates are any indication, the Programme for International Assessment (PISA), sponsored by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is increasing in influence, and the OECD plans for further expansion of the scope of PISA. Following a discussion of some validity issues in relation to PISA, several reasons are postulated for the popularity or “pull” of PISA, among which are: borrowing from other jurisdictions in the face of the uncertainties of globalization, the political leverage nation-states may obtain because they can compare themselves to others both in terms of PISA as well as economically, and the common discourse that surrounds PISA, which is the product of the professionalization of educational assessment. It is argued that the influence of PISA may jeopardize the democratization of education policy insofar as it allows elites to pursue their own agendas with little public input. </span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/154Intercultural Education and Democracy2009-11-11T12:32:22-05:00Sylvia Schmelkessylvia.schmelkes@uia.mx<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana;">As this is a special issue on intercultural education in a journal about education for democracy, it was our interest to establish the connections between interculturality and democracy, as well as the role of education in the development of both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through robust conceptual and methodological discussions, the eight articles that make up this issue indicate that a</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;"> close relationship exists between interculturality(ies) and democracy(ies).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the development process of each one individually, and of their connections, education, and specifically education for interculturality, citizenship, and democracy, understood equally in the plural as in</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">the broadest sense, continues to represent a uniquely important route.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">After reading this issue, we remain convinced that diversity, recognized and empowered, expresses, in turn, the diversity and complexity of knowledge systems and utopias, as well as conflicts and processes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These different ways of understanding the world and its evolution strongly question established conceptions of interculturality, democracy, citizenship, as well as the education necessary for developing them.</span><!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/619The Role of Human Rights Education in the Formation of an Active Citizenry2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00Aida Maria Monteiro Silvatrevoam@terra.com.brCelma Tavarescftav@hotmail.com<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";; mso-ansi-language: ES-TRAD;" lang="ES-TRAD">This article aims to discuss the importance of human rights education in the citizenship’s formation process and in the strengthening of democracy. This formation is understood from the perspective of the concepts of democracy and active citizenship that allow the human being to comprehend both its own society’s historical process and the importance of human rights to develop projects that seeks to intervene or change a reality. The other objective of this article is to reflect on the respect for cultural diversity and for the dignity of human being, as multiculturalism should articulate itself towards the promotion of human rights. Therefore, this text seeks to contribute to the discussion on the existent difficulties and possibilities in the country related to these topics, bearing in mind the creation of a citizenship formation that is able to confront secular problems and to promote the evolution into a society that is participative, active and conscious of its rights and duties– a real tolerant and democratic society.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/132Social Participation in Education: Toward a “School Community” in Las Margaritas, Chiapas2009-10-15T02:56:43-04:00Marcos J. Estrada Ruizmestrada@sclc.ecosur.mx<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The paper presents the results of a social participation strategy implemented by the Municipal Council for Social Participation in Education in the Mexican township of Las Margaritas, Chiapas. The notion of social participation is problematized through an analysis of the relationship between civil society and the political sphere. The different types of participation adopted by the members of the school community are presented, and the agreed-upon needs of the actors are discussed, as well as the predominant fields of action.</p> <!--EndFragment--></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/620The Revised Democratic Threshold Principle and the Distribution of Educational Resources2010-06-01T11:03:14-04:00Ryan CoxCox03@student.uwa.edu.au<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;" lang="EN-AU">The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for understanding the connection between the nature of democracy and the role of education in a democratic society. I begin by giving an account of the nature of democracy, along with an account of the conditions and substantive outcomes required to achieve and sustain a democratic society. I then examine the role education plays in securing these outcomes. From this understanding, and taking my cue from the work of Amy Gutmann, I argue that a democratic society is required to distribute educational resources according to what I call the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Revised Democratic Threshold Principle. </em>The account offered here provides broad requirements for the distribution of educational resources in a democratic society, along with a justification for these particular requirements in relation to the broader aspects of democratic theory. I finish by briefly examining ways in which the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Revised Democratic Threshold Principle</em> can fail to be met, and how this serves to undermine democratic decision-making.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/146On the Urgent Social Relevance of Linguistics: Teaching Portuguese y Citizenship Education in Brazil2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Milton Franciscomiltonchico@yahoo.com.br<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Djana Antonucci Correa, linguist and professor at the State University of Ponta Grossa (Paraná), organized a provocative, disturbing, and uncomfortable book, that seeks effective answers regarding the teaching of Portuguese language and the practice of linguists. In articles originated in events that took place in this university over the past few years, permeated by questions about language policy, Carlos Alberto Faraco, Maria do Rosário Gregolin, Gilvan Muller de Oliveira, Telma Gimenez and Luiz Carlos Travaglia – each located in their own theoretical and practical experience – reveal, directly or indirectly, the "crisis of purpose" that linguistics is undergoing in Brazil (perhaps, in the world, if we could expand our perspective). In return, they suggest ways for implementing the teaching of Portuguese, and the relationship between research and society. For these and other reasons that we will try to highlight, The Social Relevance of Linguistics, has become “the book of the hour.”</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/160Preparing Citizens for a Globalized World: The Role of the Social Studies Curriculum2009-11-11T12:32:22-05:00Mehrunnisa A. Alimaali@ryerson.ca<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: ">Youth in Toronto’s ethnically diverse neighbourhoods are globally connected. They have multiple, complex, and evolving identities and affiliations, including strong links with the countries of their families’ origins. They have the capacity to appreciate changing and conflicting perspectives. However, the Ontario social studies curriculum for high schools promotes nationalism by narrowly focusing on simplistic representations of Canada, particularly in the lower grades and less academic streams. A curriculum that promotes global citizenship by taking into account the students’ multi-ethnic past, present and future, and their cognitive and affective skills, is likely to serve them better in an increasingly globalized world.</span><!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/163Teacher Insights from an Intercultural Peace Curricula Development Project2009-11-11T12:48:49-05:00Edward J. BrantmeierEdward.Brantmeier@colostate.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ";Times New Roman";;">Data garnered from an eight-month critical ethnographic action research project tells a story of prejudice and discrimination in a white, Euro-American dominant context at Junction High School in the U.S. Midwest. However, counter-normative efforts aimed at transforming the situation for newcomer students were conducted by both the researcher and a group of teachers who developed and implemented intercultural peace curricula. White, Euro-American constructions of “others” and teacher reflections on their engagement in the process are presented in this article. The article aims to provide a case study and to encourage deeper dialogue on intercultural peace education in schools for achieving an authentic democracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/130Educators and education for democracy: Moving beyond “thin” democracy2009-10-15T02:56:43-04:00Paul Carrprcarr@ysu.edu<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Do our educational systems encourage, support, and cultivate a democratic experience for students? The debate over democracy in education could be characterized in terms of representative versus participatory democracy, with the former highlighting electoral processes (thin), and the latter focusing on critical engagement and social justice (thick). This paper reports on a study of College of Education students in the United States of America, highlighting three themes: 1) the predisposition among university students to understand democracy and politics in a thin way; 2) the potential for university teachers to do democracy in education; and 3) the importance of understanding power and difference in relation to democracy. The research leads to the development of a framework for conceptualizing democracy in education, highlighting, in particular, what educators can do to become more critically aware and engaged.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1016Towards a Deliberative and Democratic Model of International Cooperation in Education in Latin America2011-10-18T19:48:00-04:00Jorge Baxterjorgebaxter@gmail.com<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: ">International organizations and donor agencies have played an important role in shaping and prodding national educational reforms in Latin America through cooperation in the form of aid and technical assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This paper will draw from deliberative democratic theory to critically analyze the promise and reality of democratic participation in international cooperation in education in Latin America. It argues that there is a fundamental contradiction between the development discourse around the democratization of development relationships and the actual practices within the international organizations that wield this discourse. Moreover, international influence ranging from direct financial aid to more subtle actions, such as technical assistance, policy dialogues, and knowledge sharing, continue to limit the potential for a more democratic and deliberative form of cooperation in education.</span><!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/144Between citizen paralysis and praxis: Toward a critical pedagogy for confronting global violence2009-10-15T12:56:37-04:00Adam Davidson-Hardena.davidsonharden@queensu.ca<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Verdana;">This paper argues that to be effective methods of confronting global violence, contemporary critical pedagogies for citizenship must take into account the theoretical distance between citizen ‘paralysis and praxis’. This distance, the author posits, comprises the path between individual reactions of helplessness and powerlessness to disturbing global and local issues, and experiential or praxis-based educational opportunities that can help citizens transcend such feelings toward confronting and changing a violent world. To explore these themes, an interdisciplinary approach is taken that fuses insights from the psychology of stress and coping with a framework of peace education, and education for citizenship conceived as praxis responding to disturbing trends of global violence, drawing on the traditions of positive peace and a complex conception of violence rooted in Johan Galtung’s work. A core argument is offered in the form of a provocation to educators dealing with citizenship, peace or global issues to be attentive to inviting participants to consider paths for their own forms of ‘peace praxis’ that comprise the best hope for transcending individual reactions of helplessness in the face of global violence.</span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/3519Education without Redemption: Ten Reflections about the Relevance of the Freirean Legacy2013-04-26T10:45:22-04:00Gustavo E. Fischmanmedardotapia@gmail.comVíctor H. Díazmedardo@unam.mxBy now, it goes without saying that very fewscholars-intellectuals can lay greater claimto the notion that the hallmark of a goodeducational program must be its commitmentto the democratization of our societies thanthe late Brazilian teacher and intellectual,Paulo Freire. A decade after his death, all ofhis books remain in print (in more than 60languages) and some are among the bestsellingtitles for educators. A simple web-basedsearch gives 1.800.000 pages with referencesto Freire (significantly more than almostany other author in the field of education,perhaps with the exception of John Dewey),and his name has been used to identify publicand private schools, research centers, NGOsand pre-schools in more than 45 countries(Schugurensky, 2011).2013-04-26T00:00:00-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/3518Gathering life stories and identifying perspectives: school institutions in a Nahua community in Mexico2013-04-26T10:45:22-04:00Verónica Medrano Camachomedrano.veronica@gmail.comThis article presents the processes through which inhabitants of an indigenous Nahua communityhave valued and linked their school institutions with their life projects and with the community’sdevelopment. To this end, testimonies from 14 inhabitants who were born between 1933 and 1985are presented. Their narratives reveal the conflicts, expressions of resistance, and assessments ofschool institutions characterizing the various generations of inhabitants, thus contributing elementsfor an intercultural analysis.2013-04-26T00:00:00-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/3515Education in Communities of Population in Resistance in the Ixcán: State denial and educational mediation2013-04-26T10:45:22-04:00Rodrigo J. Velizrodjlevz@yahoo.comFollowing the State violence in the early 1980s, many displaced communities were established inthe Ixcán jungle. Once organized, and while being pursued by the army, the communities startedto plan their own educational process on the basis of their shared needs and political horizons. Withthe advent of peace in 1996 and new educational reform, the State established relationships withthe communities in the area of education, disrupting the process they had begun. A close-up lookreveals how teachers and students are establishing mediations with the contents and relationshipsthe State seeks to establish with them. This allows these teachers and students to serve as a typeof filter that restores some measure of autonomy from the State’s involvement, and it also seeks toreconsider the basic needs of pertinent, democratic education from a marginalized position.2013-04-26T00:00:00-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/3516Editorial Introduction2013-04-26T10:45:22-04:00Medardo Tapia Uribemedardotapia@gmail.com2013-04-26T00:00:00-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/3510New citizenships: Identitary processes of young adults involved in social action2013-04-26T10:45:22-04:00Ana Corina Fernández Alatorrecorinaf@prodigy.net.mx<p>This article reveals the initial findings of ongoing research on young adults, who voluntarily, becamemembers of a new collective action generation (Melucci, 2002), that creates organizations for thedevelopment of communitarian educational interventions as means to rebuild everyday contextsof trust and meaning, Lechner (1998), for outcast youngsters, through collective participation andorganization empowerment.</p><p>By using focus groups and life stories to explore the meaningful life´s components ofyoungsters organization members’ Acciones para el Desarrollo Comunitario, A.C., a non-governmentalorganization, in order to think on formal processes of civic education from de non formal educationexperiences. These findings highlight the significance of the self-identification process among youngadults, including localized civic engagement and mechanisms for inter-generational transmission.</p>2013-04-25T15:41:32-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1963Indigenous Scholastic Education in Roraima, Brazilian Amazon: Intercultural Conflicts in Constructing Educational Proposals2012-05-15T15:33:25-04:00Maxim Repettomedardotapia@gmail.comThis article addresses the process through which indigenous communities seek to takeownership of schools, while promoting their transformation and adaptation to their reality. This hasled to demands made of schools and especially the indigenous school system in the Brazilian state ofRoraima. The author explains how this process is not free from contradictions, which are manifestedin both the social changes induced by schools, especially in terms of intergenerational conflicts, andalso in communities’ expectations for school education. The article addresses three experiencesin conceptual debates that have emerged in the context of the Instituto Insikiran de FormaciónSuperior Indígena, at the Universidad Federal de Roraima (UFRR). Although these experiences arestill underway, they have led to reflection on the experience of educating indigenous teachers inthis Amazon region of Brazil, and in particular, have been useful in evaluating the experience on thebasis of self-critical reflection.2012-05-15T15:29:32-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1962Education on ethnic-racial relations from the perspective of Afro-descendants. Agenda for knowledge production2012-05-15T15:33:25-04:00Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves e Silvadpbs@ufscar.brThe education of ethnic-racial relations plays a transcendental role in building democraticsocieties that are aimed at guaranteeing equal rights, power and authority to all social groups thatconstitute them. In Brazil, the education of these relationships is a matter of government regulationwhich, among other things implies the compulsory teaching of history and Afro-Brazilian and African.Thus, educating ethnic-racial relations into question-based education to create privileges for someand leads only to resize the meanings of academic excellence and education, promoting access andalso respect for the knowledge produced in epistemological perspectives of different groups in thesociety and are documented under the most varied forms of expression.2012-05-15T15:25:12-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1961Citizen participation and education for democracy2012-05-15T15:33:24-04:00Mercedes Oraisónmedardotapia@gmail.comParticipation by the citizenry in various aspects of social life – particularly the public/politicalsphere – is a prominent issue in social research of recent years. The purpose of this article is toreflect upon citizen participation’s potential as a citizenship-building strategy. It addresses callingattention to citizen participation – an aspect that has been steadily taking shape and becomingstronger and whose keynote is the interaction of civil society actors and a government institution,with the purpose of intervening in matters of public interest.2012-05-15T15:16:46-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1960Discussing Democracy in the Area of Education2012-05-15T15:33:24-04:00Rosa Nidia Buenfil Burgosrbuenfil@cinvestav.mxDemocracy as a political value is highly prized in many spheres of social life, one of which iseducation. This critical essay, which hinges on historical, philosophical and discursive axes, addressesthe relationship between democracy and education, problematizing and deconstructing the twoconcepts, particularly the former. The signifier of democracy is always present, even in differingideological discourses, depending on by whom, where and with what purpose it is expressed.However, these meanings are all commonly structured as a beginning of salvation and a horizon ofwell-being for the community.2012-05-15T15:12:10-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1959Teaching citizenship: Civic experimentation and imagination2012-05-15T15:33:24-04:00Ana María Salmerónanasame@unam.mxIt is widely accepted today that democracy cannot exist without education. Furthermore,that any democratic project must be accompanied by an educational project, and that achievingthe first depends—at least in some sense—on the second’s possibilities for success. This articleaddresses the role that the current state of political and social life should play in relation to teachingand learning in school curriculums. The discussion is based on the idea that social life cannot beignored in education when the latter is aimed at understanding it and making a commitment toits transformation. The author proposes that education for democracy only has meaning in theframework of two complementary conditions: first of all, civic experimentation, and secondly, aneducational experience that promotes the development of imaginative capacities.2012-05-15T15:02:30-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1958Ethical-political education for democracy open to diversity2012-05-15T15:33:24-04:00Teresa Yurénmedardotapia@gmail.com2012-05-15T14:45:13-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/1957Editorial Introduction2012-05-15T15:33:24-04:00Medardo Tapia Uribemedardotapia@gmail.com2012-05-15T12:41:46-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/115Dialogue on Paulo Freire2009-10-15T01:34:49-04:00Ana María Araújo Freireried@indiana.eduPaolo Vittoriaried@indiana.edu<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;">Reflecting on education means analyzing the context in which one intends to work. Otherwise, when the context is not taken into account, education can be reduced to theoretical thinking. Real educational praxis must be linked to its social context and to the complexity of its environment. A theory cannot be a vehicle that secludes praxis, but rather an instrument of critical analysis that is embedded in our own praxis. From my point of view, one of the deepest teachings of Paulo Freire’s pedagogy is the dialectic between theory and practice. Theory without practice would be mere abstract thinking, just as practice without theory would be reduced to naive action.</span>2009-10-15T01:33:50-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/114Education in Democratic Values: The Historicity of Democracy as the Openness of Narratives2009-10-15T01:34:49-04:00Fernando Luis Onettofonetto@me.gov.ar<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;">This article poses as a theoretical and practical problem a particular aspect of democratic values: its quality as a historical occurrence. Valorizing the non-essential character of democracy, its “foundational void,” should be a common part of any democratic culture. The values that inform democracy also share this historical quality; they cannot be established outside of personal and institutional biographies. This article explores the consequences that such principles have for democratic values education in schools. The article describes the general traits of an educational policy and practice that might be understood as a form of democratic narration.</span>2009-10-15T01:27:28-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/113Citizens’ Social Construction of Sustainable Development in Mexico2009-10-15T01:34:49-04:00Medardo Tapia Uribemedardo@servidor.unam.mx<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;">This research study examines the discussion and solution of environmental problems taken on by students, citizens, and government in northwest Morelos, a state near Mexico City. Public discussion of environmental problems in three local newspapers between 2000 and 2004, in-depth interviews with the main actors involved, and survey results of a probabilistic sample of citizens and lower- and upper-secondary students are examined. The results describe students’ perception of environmental problems and how debate arises, evolves, and is solved, as well as how citizens, the government, and students contribute to constructing citizenship, the environment, and democracy.</span>2009-10-15T01:21:27-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/112Classrooms in Peace: Preliminary Results of a Multi-component Program2009-10-15T01:34:49-04:00Cecilia Ramosechaux@uniandes.edu.coAna María Nietoechaux@uniandes.edu.coEnrique Chauxechaux@uniandes.edu.co<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;">Classrooms in Peace is aimed at preventing aggressive behaviors and promoting peaceful coexistence through 1) a curriculum for the development of citizenship competencies in the classroom; 2) extracurricular reinforcement in groups of two initially aggressive and four prosocial children; 3) workshops for, visits and phone calls to family mothers/fathers. A first implementation of the complete program showed a drastic decrease in aggressive behaviors and indiscipline and a considerable increase in prosocial behaviors, adherence to rules, and friendship networks among classmates. The combination of universal components and targeted components for those most in need seems to be highly valuable, especially in violent contexts.</span>2009-10-15T01:12:08-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/111Mapping Agency Through Aesthetic Production: Producing and Enabling Youth as Civic Subjects2009-10-15T01:34:49-04:00Catherine McGregorcmcgreg@uvic.ca<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, Helvetica; font-size: 11px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 3px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 3px;">This paper reports on a recently completed research study that sought to trace or map the ways in which youth develop or enhance their civic agency as an outcome of their engagement with two different forms of aesthetic production. Using digital cameras and computer software or popular theatre technique, the participating youth explored issues of social concern to themselves and the community. By focusing on the ways the youth used, altered or ‘took up’ particular cultural tools (Wertsch, 1991, 19978) this study considers how the affordances and constraints of aesthetic knowledge production shapes the development of civic subjects and subjectivities.</span>2009-10-15T01:07:01-04:00Copyright (c) http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ried/article/view/128Democratic Citizenship Education: A New Imperative for the Americas2009-10-15T01:34:49-04:00Bradley A.U. Levinsonbrlevins@indiana.eduDaniel Schugurenskydschugurensky@oise.utoronto.caRoberto Gonzálezrgonzale@uc.cl<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">During the last decade, countries across the Americas have been active in revising programs for civic education in order to create a broader and deeper democratic political culture. Perennially a bulwark of national identity and allegiance for more authoritarian or populist regimes, civic education has been reconceived as a space for fostering democratic citizenship. Yet school-based civic education remains but one actor in the drama, variously competing and aligning with the many forces and influences that shape the construction of citizenship, from popular culture and the media, to peer groups and economic relations, to political opportunities and the balance of rights and responsibilities present in each particular context. In discourse across the Americas, civic education is giving way to “citizenship” education, and the broader term, “citizenship formation,” is often preferred, especially in the Spanish and Portuguese languages. In our usage, then, democratic citizenship education (DCE) includes state-sponsored initiatives in schools and in non-formal education programs, as well as informal socialization processes and organized civil society initiatives.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">During the last decade, the Organization of American States (OAS) has also played an important role in the region promoting DCE. At least since the Second Summit of the Americas, held in Santiago de Chile in 1998, numerous mandates for attention to “democratic values and practices” have been promulgated during OAS general assemblies, plenary sessions, and Summits of the Americas. Such efforts were strongly bolstered by the signing of the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the OAS in September of 2001. Articles 26 and 27 of the Charter placed emphasis on the need to develop a “democratic culture” to accompany democratic political reforms. In particular, Article 27 mandated that “special attention shall be given to the development of programs and activities for the education of children and youth as a means of ensuring the continuance of democratic values, including liberty and social justice.” Since that time, the Department of Education and Culture, in collaboration with the Department for the Promotion of Governance of the OAS, has taken the lead in convening meetings with participants from governmental and non-governmental institutions throughout the Americas to share knowledge of best practices across borders and to exchange ideas through open discussions and debates.</p> <!--EndFragment-->2009-10-15T00:55:56-04:00Copyright (c)